The Lights Of Noyo Harbor Oil on Linen (UPDATED)

This painting was a learning experience, start to finish.  Unlike my first night scene of Noyo harbor, which had some fairly well lit boats and water-front buildings that could be painted with color and a little detail, this scene is from a greater distance.  As a result, all of the structures are shrouded in darkness and can only be suggested with subtle value changes. There's little or no opportunity for color notes except for a few places where the lights reflect on nearby buildings and other surfaces.  I've never painted anything with those restrictions.  It was fun learning my way around the concept.

I started with a small color study.  I am finding this a very important step when contemplating a lager studio painting that will require a lot of  time commitment.  The study not only helps to visualize the final painting, but it quickly reveals obvious problems and gives you an opportunity to think about them and eventually correct them.  The final painting is done on stretched oil-primed linen.  It was a very smooth weave.  I would probably opt for a little more texture if I had it to do over.  A lot of glazing went on in the areas of the water and more importantly in the hills.  It helped bring the values of the textures in the hills together to reinforce the lack of light, while at the same time allowing enough change to be able to keep the hills from being black slabs.  The final painting is 18" x 36".

This was easily the most difficult painting to photograph that I have encountered.  The surface is very smooth linen and it has a glossy varnish on top.  The hills do have value changes to suggest shapes and trees, but because they are still very dark, the camera wants to average them into the overall value.  Finding a way to capture the darkness of the painting yet also reveal the subtle value changes which give definition to the structures and the hills was a real challenge.  This photo comes as close to the actual painting as any I have taken.  I finally quit trying to put light on the painting and went in exactly the opposite direction.  I took this in a room with no lights on at all and with the blinds on the windows closed a tightly as possible.  I used shutter control and finally found the ideal at about a 1/4 second exposure, f/4.8, iso 400.  No 'adjustments' in photoshop were needed.  

The Lights of Noyo Harbor  Oil on linen   36" x 18"

Color Study Noyo Harbor 9 x 12

And this is the color study.  As you can see, I choose a more horizontal format for the final painting, which I believe captures the actual scene much more accurately.  I've mentioned many times before that a canvas size ration of 2 (W) to 1 (H) is ideal for painting almost any landscape.  It just seems true to the way we see such scenes. 











My Art Site: Bruce Hancock Fine Art

".....home from the sea." Oil on canvas

"...home from the sea" started as a photo taken from my Hotel balcony in Ft. Bragg, California this fall.   I did a small oil study (8x10) to try out some approaches to the night scene and then did this 20 x 24 final painting.  The study was actually the second I've done of night scenes in Noyo Harbor and this is the first larger painting done from either.  I plan to start the second one shortly.

I've really enjoyed trying to capture this night scene.  The fact that there is some intense light in the scene which illuminates other portions of the painting to differing degrees adds to the challenge.  The water is Ultramarine with Thalo Green added to darken the value...and just a touch of Cad Red Medium to gray it slightly.  I used Rembrandt Cold Gray extensively in mixes with other colors, particularly in the buildings and dock of the middle distance.

Overall this image is slightly lighter than the painting, and even of the picture used to import the image, but it's reasonably close.  

home from the sea   20 x 24" oil on stretched canvas

This painting is available framed or unframed.  Please contact me by email for more information. 

This is the 8 x 10 study done in preparation:

Home from the Sea  Oil Study on 8 x 10 canvas panel

My Art Site: Bruce Hancock Fine Art

Night in Noyo Harbor - Oil Study

Each time I've traveled to Ft. Bragg, California to paint, I've stayed in a motel that overlooks the Noyo Harbor.  And each time I've taken many pictures of the harbor from my balcony.  My particular favorites have been at night, when the lights from the restaurants and other businesses, as well as a few lights from the fishing industry buildings, sparkle in the deep dark of the valley that surrounds the harbor.  I've often thought of painting from the photographs, but I've never tried a night painting before.

Today I decided to do a small 9 x 12 study as a practice, with the thought that I might try something bigger if that worked out.   Here's my study, done in about 1 1/2 hours this morning.

Night in Noyo Harbor - Study   9x12 oil on canvas panel 

I used only a few colors here.  Primarily, the darks are Ultramarine with Cold Gray to lighten and red or Alizarin to darken.  Of course, there are lights done with Cad Yellow Lemon, Cad Yellow Deep, and some Cad Red Medium.  Here and there are some hints of green done by mixing the yellow and blue.  


My Art Site: Bruce Hancock Fine Art

Dolphin Cove Morning

As I mentioned in my previous post, I had an opportunity to paint with friends in the Ft. Bragg and Mendocino areas just this October.   On the last morning there, we visited Dolphin Cove, which is just a little way further up the Noyo River from Noyo Harbor, a place I have painted many, many times.

When I arrived at the Cove at about 9 in the morning, it was still in deep shade.  The high bluffs and fir trees forming the east and south rim around the harbor blocked the sun even this late in the morning.  However I could see that the track of the sun would soon bring it over the ridgeline and the light would begin to reach the boats in the harbor.  I set up my easel at the water's edge and by the time I was ready to paint, the sun had reached the boats on my side of the docking area, while the boats and the hillside on the other side remained in shadow.  It made a dramatic scene of light against dark.

I painted a 12 x 16 plein air piece of two of the boats in front of me.  It's posted below.  After returning I decided I wanted to do a slightly larger and more finished studio version of the same scene.  Fortunately, I had taken a couple of pictures to use along with the plein air painting as reference.

Painting in the studio, I was able to carry the painting further.  In particular I wanted to emphasize the brilliant intensity of the morning light against the dark background.  Of course, my studio painting does not have the immediacy of the plein air experience, but in exchange I was able to develop areas and details a bit further.  At the same time, I tired to concentrate on maintaining some looseness in areas of the painting...and to be careful not to over paint.

Dolphin Cove Morning  20 x 16  Oil on stretched canvas

 This is the plein air work of the same scene.

I've begun to pare down my palette lately - both when painting in plein air and in the studio.  Both of the paintings above were done with the limited palette for the most part. I'm not rigid about it and I feel free to add any tube color I feel might be useful, but I am generally using only about 4-5 colors plus white.  I've borrowed Kathleen's Dumphy's palette pretty much, which she generously shares on her blog along with huge amounts of wonderful information about her painting experience and technique.  The palette is Naples Yellow Deep, Cad Yellow Lemon, Cad Red Medium, Ultramarine Deep, Transparent Oxide Red, and Titanium White.  All of the colors are Rembrandt except the Cad Yellow Lemon, which at Kathleen's suggestion is Utrecht.  The TOR is my addition to the palette.  It's a color I find invaluable in so many ways.  I would have a difficult time painting without it...and it's easily my most used color. (I'm cutting way down on white also, except when it is an obvious color in the scene, as in the two paintings above.)   Kathleen rounds out her limited palette with Rembrandt Cold Gray.  I have it on my palette too, but I haven't learned to use it comfortably yet.  I will be taking a workshop from Kathleen in April and I hope to remedy that!

I rarely have a tube green on my palette.  Mixing greens from blue and yellow and modifying them with red or TOR gives a nice variety and I don't often feel the need for the tube greens.  I still find uses for Viridian....it's a distinctive color that I can't mix.  For many years I used large amounts of yellow ochre and I still squeeze it out nearly every time out of habit.  But I'm finding less and less need for it and I'm now wasting way more than I'm using.

I find the limited palette very comfortable.  As I said, I don't feel constrained to use only those few colors...this isn't some kind of challenge or test...but the more I paint with the limited palette,the less often I feel the need for other colors.  


My Art Site: Bruce Hancock Fine Art

Early Morning in Noyo Harbor - Plein Air

I've painted in Noyo Harbor at Fort Bragg California a number of times now.  There is so much great subject matter there that I can't resist, even though  finding places out of the way isn't always easy.  The light in the harbor can be difficult at times also.  It is surrounded by cliffs and high hills so that it is in shade early and late in the day.  At times I've found myself wishing for some light on the subject.  At other times, like the morning I painted this study, the light is very intense, almost blinding.

On this day I set up at the very mouth of the harbor, looking into it from a distance. Even though it was about 10 am in the morning, the sun was just reaching the harbor basin.  The low light streaming in from the left created a bright reflection on the morning mist that blocked most of the buildings and boats in the inner harbor from view.  There were intense reflections in the water as well.  I was hesitant at first to try to paint the scene because it was difficult to see into the harbor at all, but it was very striking and I couldn't resist trying.  As I painted the mist lifted and a few more of the distant structures became visible.  I omitted some for simplicity and barely suggested others, letting the light dominate.

This was a quick attempt to capture some of the feeling of that morning light.

Early Morning in Noyo Harbor   Oil on canvas panel   8" x 16"

My Art Site: Bruce Hancock Fine Art

Accepted! SFAC Juried "Celebrating California" Show

I'm pleased to say that my painting, "Final Rest - Noyo Harbor" was accepted in the Sacramento Fine Arts Center juried show, "Celebrating California."  The show is currently on-going at the Art Center.

Final Rest - Noyo Harbor    Plein Air oil on canvas  16 x 20

  The best in show award went to Steve Walters for a striking full sheet watercolor.  Steve captured an amazing sense of light and summertime.  It's more and more obvious to me that in paintings that stand out from the group, the artist has "captured the light."  As I look at my painting above, I see that I didn't do that.  When I started the painting, there was a very strong, clear morning light coming from the left that is missing in my painting.  In trying to think why that is so, I suspect that by the time I was bringing the painting to a close that light had changed to a general midday sun without real distinction.  Even in that case, however, I don't have a strong sense of light in the painting.  Something to think about and learn from.  There's so much to learn!  Wow, painting is such a challenge!

More from Ft. Bragg and Mendocino Trip

It was three and one half spectacular days of painting with friends.

On the second day, we painted in Noyo Harbor, directly below the hotel where we stayed.  I did another 16 x 20 oil on canvas.  Again, I was striving for a more finished painting than is typical for me when painting plein air.  I think I managed it fairly well.

Final Rest in Noyo Harbor  Plein Air Oil on 16" x 20" Canvas

On day three we traveled down the highway a few miles to Mendocino.  I didn't want to do a seascape, although there is plenty of temptation everywhere you look in this lovely spot on the California coast.  Finally I walked down toward the sea and looked back up at the town.  The big crisp light on the building in the foreground captured my attention.  This picture was taken with my iPhone onsite. 

Mendocino Post Card   Plein Air Oil on 16" x 20" canvas

Our fourth day was also getaway day, so we only painted until noon.  For convenience we returned to Noyo Harbor.  For the first time, the morning was overcast.  I set up and begin to paint in a shadowless muted environment, but by 11 am, the sun was out again and I was painting in intensely bright light without an umbrella.  When I got it home, I was surprised at how very dark my painting was.  This is a lesson I should have already learned...since it's a mistake I've made more than once.  You MUST put up an umbrella to shield your canvas and palette in bright sunlight.  If you don't, you're likely to be amazed at how dark your painting is once it is returned to room light or defused sunlight.   I spent about 1/2 hour in my studio at home lightening the painting carefully.  Essentially, I added a bit of light in the foliage in the background and some light touches on the pier, selected pilings and a few objects in the foreground. 

 Noyo Harbor Memories  Plein Air on 12" x 16" canvas panel